Ranking the AFC North Special Teams Units, Pre-NFL Draft Edition

A team's win-loss record can be more closely attributed to how many touchdowns they can score compared to how many they prevent their opponent from scoring, with the offense and defense primarily tasked with those responsibilities.

Slightly more unsung, however, are the special teams units. Despite how much a top-flight quarterback can help a team, a bad special teams unit can undo all of that quarterback's hard work—just ask the San Diego Chargers.

So don't dismiss the role special teams play in a given squad's overall success. Let's take a look at the special teams units in the AFC North and rank them accordingly, based on their 2011 performance.

1. Cincinnati Bengals

It's almost a toss-up at No. 1 between the Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Bengals were better across the board (but just slightly) at special teams in 2011, except in total punt yards allowed (my system relies primarily on field goals made and allowed, kick and punt return yards allowed and opponent special teams touchdowns), but I bumped them to the top spot because of their glaringly higher success rate at making field goals.

The only area of concern for the Bengals is that they allowed the most total punt-return yards of any team in the NFL last season, with 610 (the next-worst team in the AFC North gave up 423 yards).

This is indicative of problems with both speed and tackling on Cincy's punt coverage team and is something they'll have to address by bringing on multi-use defensive backs in later rounds of the draft—either that or overlap more players on their kick and punt coverage units.

Other than that, the Bengals' special teams numbers are solid—despite those 610 punt-return yards, they gave up just one punt return for a touchdown and none on kick returns.

They were the only team in the division to give up fewer than 1,000 kick-return yards, allowed just 22 field goals (though that says more about their defense than special teams) and made 33 of their own attempted 38 three-point conversions.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers also only gave up 22 field goals last year, but again, this has much to do with their defense. Otherwise, they had an overall solid special teams showing in 2011, aside from their own field-goal success rate.

The Steelers made just 23 of their attempted 31 field goals—they may even bring in a new kicker this year to compete for the starting job as a result.

But their punt coverage squad was extremely strong, allowing just 347 return yards all season and no scores. The same goes for their kickoff coverage—though they gave up 1,018 return yards, they allowed no scores.

The Steelers need to get better at their own punt and kick returns—though they have some fast players out there returning the ball, the protection for them needs to improve.

3. Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens were just slightly better than the Steelers when it comes to punt-return yardage allowed (by two yards), but they gave up two punt-return touchdowns and allowed 1,050 kick return yards, one coming back for a score.

Special teams coverage is one area the Ravens have committed to improving this year, but their offseason of losing free agents who contributed the most on special teams means that they'll need to find some replacements in next week's draft.

The Ravens' field-goal unit was fairly solid, with 30 of 39 field-goal attempts made, but they need better numbers on punt and kick returns. 

4. Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns lived and died by their special teams last season. The Browns had a number of things go wrong for them on offense, but their special teams unit did little to lessen the pressure, putting up the worst performance in the division when it comes to coverage.

The Browns gave up a total of 1,055 kick return and 423 punt return yards in 2011, with one touchdown for each. While their own return game wasn't bad—303 punt-return yards and 1,134 yards on kick returns—it didn't produce any touchdowns.

The team's offensive struggles can be seen in the field-goal stats for last year. The Browns attempted just 29 field goals, making 24 of them. Not only did the Browns have a tough time finding the end zone in 2011, they had trouble getting into field-goal range as well.

Follow @FBALL_Andrea